Day After Launch By PM Modi, Vande Bharat Express Breaks Down

Train 18 was returning from Varanasi after its inaugural run.

A day after it was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Vande Bharat Express, billed as India’s fastest train, broke down on Saturday.

The train, also known as Train 18, was returning from Varanasi after its inaugural run and broke down about 200 km from the capital, reported NDTV.

It resumed service around 8.15 am, after a halt of about three hours, the report added.

According to railway officials, quoted by News18, the train began making a “weird noise” early on Saturday morning after which the breaks of one of the coaches jammed.

The officials said that one of the possible reasons for the snag was the train hitting a cow on the tracks, the report added.

“This disruption appears to be because of a possible cattle run over. The train was returning at night and cattle run over is a possibility at odd times,” Railway Spokesperson Smita Vats Sharma said, adding this was not a commercial run, which is scheduled to start from Sunday.

Train 18, which was recently rechristened Vande Bharat Express by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, has been manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai.

It became India’s fastest train by hitting speeds of over 180 kmph during a trial run on a section of the Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani route.